Dawn of the Dragon
by Org.XIIIisbetterthantheAkatski
Summary: After finding weird dragon crystals in a meteorite, Duncan, Courtney, Geoff, Bridgette, Trent, Gwen, Cody, and Heather are sent to Avalar, where dragons roam. They must stop the Dark Master from destroying the world.
1. The Crystals

**AN**: Yeah, I know. 'Another story?! But you have Pirate's Life to work on!' Chill, I'll update this weekend. It would have been sooner, but I have a science fair project to work on. This story takes place right before "The Sucky Outdoors" episode. And you don't need to know much about The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon to understand this story; I'll explain anything that might cause confusion

**Disclaimer**: I don't own TDI or The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon (which this was inspired greatly by). If I did, Duncan would have won TDI, and Ignitus wouldn't have died! Why'd it have to be Ignitus?! Why?!?! Oh, just read the story already!…Ignitus…

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Ch 1: The Crystals

Camp Wawanakwa was unusually quiet. The campers' next challenge wasn't until tomorrow, so they had a small window of opportunity to actually relax. Well, relax as much as they could on a stupid reality show in a crappy summer camp hosted by a sadistic pretty-boy freak.

Duncan was sitting on the steps of the Killer bass cabin, carving a stick into a sharpened spear. Then, he stopped. He had felt a creepy rush, like something really bad was going to happen. He shrugged it off though.

_This is a freakin' reality show created to make our lives miserable! Of course something bad's gonna happen!_, Duncan thought as he continued carving.

Gwen looked up from her sketch book, just getting a feeling similar to the one Duncan just experienced. Glancing up to the sky, she saw a flash. At first, it looked like a star, but then it started to grow in size. After a few seconds, she could identify it as a meteor that was coming towards camp. She gasped.

"Look out!" Gwen shouted, pointing to the meteor. Everyone followed her finger to the falling rock. They all immediately scrambled for a hiding spot. All the campers had found shelter when the heard a crash. A few peeked their heads out to see the rock.

"Cool! A meteorite!" Cody said, coming out from his spot behind the mess hall. Owen cowered behind a tree.

"A-are you sure there aren't any a-aliens in there?" he asked, holding the tree trunk for dear life. Trent looked at him.

"I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as aliens, Owen." he said, coming out from behind the cabins. Cody walked up to the space rock to get a better look at it. Upon closer inspection, he saw something shiny and yellow poking out of the side.

"Hey, guys, I think I found something!" he said, reaching for the object. The other campers walked up to see what he was talking about. Cody pulled the object out of the meteorite. Holding it up, he saw it was a yellow and black crystal. The weird think about it was that it had been hand-carved into the shape of a dragon and it was attached to a string, like it was meant to be worn.

"Whoa. That's pretty creepy, the way it's already carved like that. Kinda like crop circles. Maybe there is a such thing as aliens." Tyler said, looking at the crystal in Cody's palm.

"You've been watching too many sci-fi's, dude. Aliens don't exist." Geoff said, leaning against the meteorite. Then, something in the space rock gleamed in the light, making Geoff inspect it.

"Hey, here's another one!" he said, taking out another crystal from the rock. Like Cody's, it was carved in the shape of a dragon and was attached to a string. However, it was white and stormy blue, instead of yellow and black.

"How many of these crystal things are there?" Owen asked, looking at Geoff's dragon curiously.

The campers then searched the rock for any more crystalline dragons. 8 of them had been found: Cody's yellow and black one, Geoff's white and stormy blue one, a brown and green one found by Trent, a brick red and scarlet one found by Gwen, a sapphire and sky blue one found by Bridgette, a forest and lime green one which Heather took from Lindsay (AN: Because we all know Heather would never get her nails ruined by digging in a space rock.), a red and orange one found by Courtney, and a navy blue and black one found by Duncan.

"What are these?" Trent asked, looking at the intricate carvings on his dragon crystal. Duncan shrugged.

"Some freaky crystals from space, I guess." he said, also observing his crystal dragon. Then, a strange feeling came over the campers. Not the feeling of dread Duncan and Gwen had felt, more like a woozy, yet numbing, feeling, almost like a tranquilizer. The next thing anyone knew, a bright flash of light overtook all of them, knocking them all unconscious.

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**AN**:…Okay, I'm better. I'm done crying about you-know-who. The color of the dragon crystals might not match the characters, but you'll understand next chapter. Trust me. R&R!!!


	2. Avalar, Realm of Dragons, Part 1

**AN**: Chapter 2! This is where the 'Dragon' in 'Dawn of the Dragon' comes in. Well, dragons. If you still don't get something about Dawn of the Dragon at the end of the story, feel free to PM me! I haven't disabled that on my profile, so please! Ask questions if you don't understand! I'm not rude and won't shun you for being confused! None of the PM's would be answered, "Buy the game, you moron!"; I actually encourage questions! I'm starting to sound like my social studies teacher, so I'm just gonna let you read the story now!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own TDI, The Legend of Spyro: DotD (which this was greatly inspired by), Avalar, or most of the dragons' names (which I also stole from Spyro games), but I do own the dragons themselves.

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Ch 2: Avalar, Realm of Dragons, Part 1

Duncan slowly aroused, groaning and rubbing his head. Looking at his surroundings, the first thing he noticed was he wasn't in Camp Wawanakwa anymore. He was now in a lush valley with a clean river running through it. No sign of a crappy summer camp in sight.

The second thing Duncan realized was all the other campers were gone. He sat alone, leaning up against a rock to feet from the river. No one else but was in the valley.

"Wh-where the heck am I?" Duncan asked in confusion. Standing up shakily, he walked over to the river. The water was crystal clear; no dirt or fish in it. He sat himself down, trying to process what had happened.

_Okay, so the meteor hit camp and everyone found those dragon crystals in it. I remember that. Then, there was that light and-_, Duncan was pulled out of his thoughts as the ground started rumbling slightly. Turning around, he expected to see like a stampede or something.

Instead, what he saw was tiny, clawed hands reaching up from the ground. They grabbed the grass and started puling themselves up. Duncan's eyes widened as giant bugs with clawed feet and hands emerged from the earth. Their big, black eyes looked around, but then glanced at Duncan. Their wings started to beat faster as the zoomed towards him. He stood up and looked around for something, _anything_ he could use as a weapon. He found nothing.

"Okay, this is bad." Duncan said, dodging a swipe of claws. Another tried to tackle him to the ground, but Duncan sidestepped at the last second. More of the bugs started to arise from the ground, causing a swarm. Duncan tried backing up, but nearly slipped into the river.

"Really bad." he said to himself. Just as a bug was going to sink its claws into Duncan's flesh, something grabbed it. A figure flew the bug high into the air, before diving down, pummeling the creature into the earth. Duncan tried to get a better look at whatever had just saved him, but the bugs were in his line of sight and the figure was moving too fast for Duncan's eyes to follow.

After a minute, all the bugs had either been killed or retreated. Finally, Duncan could get a better look at his savior. Standing in front of him was a _dragon_ that came up to about Duncan's chest. It mainly had navy blue scales, but the scales on it's stomach, it's horns, and the inside of its wings were black. The tip of its tail ended in a spade shape, which was violet, just like its eyes. The really weird thing was, though, it looked _exactly _like the crystal Duncan had found in the meteorite. It walked towards him.

"Hey, you okay?" it asked in a male voice. Duncan didn't respond; he was too freaked out by the whole situation. The dragon then rolled its eyes.

"Oh, oh, I get. This is the part where you freak out and run away screaming. Go ahead, even though I just saved you life." it said, turning around. It was about to take off flying, before Duncan stopped it.

"Wait!" he said to the scaled creature. It looked at him.

"Yeah?" it asked dully. Duncan reached in his pocket and pulled out his dragon crystal.

"You…look exactly like this." he said showing it to the dragon. It's eyes widened, and it looked up at Duncan.

"You found that?" it whispered. Duncan nodded slowly. The dragon looked at the crystal in interest.

"And here I thought the prophecy didn't exist…" it muttered under it's breath. Duncan looked at the dragon in confusion.

"Prophecy? What prophecy?" he asked, but then realized something.

"Wait a second, what about the other campers?" Duncan asked himself, remembering that the others had disappeared. The dragon tilted it's head to the side.

"Other campers? Did any of them have crystals like that except different colors?" it asked. Duncan nodded.

"Yeah, there were 18 of us, but only 8 of us found crystals: me, Cody, Geoff, Trent, Gwen, Bridgette, Heather, and Princess." he said, calling Courtney by her pet name.

"Princess?" the dragon asked. Duncan smirked.

"Well, Courtney." he said. The dragon seemed to pause in thought.

"So, there's eight of you. Just like the prophecy said…" it said.

"What prophecy?!" Duncan asked angrily. The dragon shook its head.

"Later. First, we find these friends of yours. Then, I can explain it to all of you at once. By the way, Malefor." it said. Duncan looked at it in confusion.

"Huh?" he asked. The dragon rolled it's eyes.

"My name." it said irritably.

"Oh, Duncan." Duncan replied. Malefor nodded, walking away. Duncan followed. After a few minutes, a familiar voice called out.

"Hey, Duncan!" Geoff called out from behind the pair. They turned around to see Geoff with a dragon of his own. It was pretty similar to Malefor, except it was mainly stormy blue and it's horns, wings, and stomach was white. It's wingspan was also slightly bigger.

"Geoff! So, you got a dragon too, huh?" Duncan asked. Geoff grinned.

"Yeah. Dude's name is Amrok." he said. The blue dragon grinned.

"Malefor!" Amrok said, running up to the navy dragon. Malefor scowled.

"Touch me and die." Malefor said, making Amrok freeze in his tracks. The blue and white dragon grinned sheepishly, backing away slowly.

"Not gonna tempt you on that one; I know what you can do." Amrok said. Duncan looked at Geoff.

"Have you found any of the other campers yet?" he asked to the party dude. Geoff shook his head.

"Sorry, dude. You were the first one. I was hoping the others were with you, but I guess it's never that easy, huh, man?" Geoff said. Duncan nodded. Their conversation was interrupted by a scream. All four of them whipped their heads towards the scream.

"Come on!" Malefor said, running towards the where the scream came from. Duncan, Geoff, and Amrok followed.

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**AN**: Okay, I lied. We don't get into the color thing until 2 chapters later. But still, any questions, PM me! R&R!!!


	3. Avalar, Realm of Dragons, Part 2

**AN**: Hey, guys! I got some good reviews for this story! Apparently you guys like the dragon idea! I like it too. I would posted sooner, but I got distracted by that emoticon ad with the 'Omigosh, no way!*faints*' emoticon. We introduce the rest of the dragons in this chapter, whose names I stole, with the exception of a few.

**Disclaimer**: I don't TDI, The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon (which this was greatly inspired by), or most of the dragons' names, but I do own the dragons themselves.

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Ch 3: Avalar, Realm of Dragons, Part 2

Duncan, Geoff, Malefor, and Amrok ran towards the source of the scream, to find Trent, Gwen, and Cody surrounded by the same creatures that had attacked Duncan. Standing between the campers and the bugs were three dragons, one in front of each camper.

The one protecting Trent had mainly green scales, but it's horns, stomach, the inside of it's wings, and the rock-like spikes running down it's back were light brown. It's tail ended in a mace, which was dark brown, matching it's eyes.

Gwen's dragon was mainly scarlet, like it's eyes, with it's stomach and the inside of it's wings were brick red, but it's horns were white. It's tail was spiked with four white spikes. Compared to the other dragons, it's figure was slimmer and more feminine.

The dragon in front Cody was mainly a stunning yellow with small light yellow scar-like lightning bolt markings. However, it's horns, stomach, eyes, and the inside of it's wings were a light black color. Unlike the other dragons, it had a black horn on it's nose. It's tail ended in a spade, like Malefor and Amrok, but it's spade was slightly longer.

The three unnamed dragons immediately started to take down the bugs. The green one would use sheer force to slam the bugs into the ground, while the red one would let out ear-piercing screams to send the creatures into a state of panic and fear, making them flying into each other or, at the worst, tear each other apart. The yellow one was moving to fast for the others to see, but whatever technique it was using, it was working. A few minutes later, all the bugs had been destroyed.

"Well, now that that's over…" Trent said, looking at Cody, "I had no idea you could scream so high, Cody." Cody grinned sheepishly.

"What are you guys doing here?" Gwen asked Duncan and Geoff. Duncan shrugged.

"Same thing as you: no idea." he said. The green dragon smirked.

"He's got the same sarcastic attitude as you, Malefor." it said in a deep voice.

"Shut up, Terrador." the navy dragon replied.

"Oh, yeah! We almost forgot! Guys, this is Terrador…," Trent said, pointing to the green dragon, "Cynder," pointing to the red, feminine dragon, "and Volteer." pointing to the yellow dragon.

"What were those things?" Cody asked.

"Bug Grumlins. Nasty little things too." Volteer said.

"Uh, guys, I hate to break up this little, after-battle conversation, but aren't we missing a couple campers?" Gwen asked. Malefor saw a glimpse of red and blue in the trees.

"I think I just found your friends." he said, a mischievous smirk spreading on his face. He walked towards the direction he had saw the flash of color. The others just looked at each other and shrugged, following.

Malefor lead the group to a clearing with two familiar faces. Duncan grinned.

"Princess!" he said, wrapping his arm around Courtney. She shrugged it off.

"How many times do I have to tell you that's not my name?!" she shouted at the delinquent. He shrugged.

"I don't know. A lot?" Duncan asked, amusement evident in his voice. Courtney was about to scream at him again, but Bridgette put her hand on Courtney's shoulder.

"Hey, calm down." she said in a soothing voice. Malefor grinned, walking up to a red dragon. Like Cynder, it was slim and feminine. It was mainly red, with it's horns, stomach, and the inside of it's wings being a light orange. It's tail ended in a darker orange fire-like spade shape, which matched it's eyes.

"Hello, Ember." he said mischievously. Ember glared at him.

"Back off, Malefor. I'm not in the mood for you!" she said angrily. Malefor laughed slightly.

"You're just mad 'cause I'm winning." he said smirking.

"Winning?" Cody asked Volteer.

"It's this bet they've had for a while. To see who can kill the most Grumlins." Volteer said.

"You are not! We're tied!" Ember protested. Malefor shook his head.

"Nope. Killed a swarm of about 20. That dude over there's a witness." he said, motioning to Duncan. The blue dragon feminine walked between the two of them. It was mostly a sapphire color, but it's horns, stomach, and the inside of it's wings were sky blue. It's tail ended in a lavender triangle, that matched it's eyes.

"Does it really matter, guys?" it asked, trying to make peace.

"Yes!" they both said angrily. Amrok walked over.

"Come on, guys! Chill out! Shira's just trying to help!" he said, sticking up for the blue dragon. Malefor shrugged and walked away. Ember glared at him before also walking away.

"Hey, wait a second! Didn't Heather have one of those crystal things, too? Where's she?" Geoff asked. Cynder looked at the ground.

"Well, actually…" she said uncomfortably. Malefor looked at Duncan.

"You remember that prophecy I told you about?" he asked. Duncan nodded.

"Well, since we're all here, it's time for me to actually explain what's going on here." Malefor said seriously.

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**AN**: I know! That was a bad spot to end it at! You guys are probably all pissed now! But that'll keep you reading! Malefor and Duncan are so alike!

**Pronunciation-**

Malefor- Ma lei for

Amrok- Ahm rock

Cynder- Cinder

Terrador- Ter rah dor

Volteer- Volt tear

Shira- She rah

Avalar- Av uh lar

R&R!!!


	4. The Prophecy of Avalar

**AN**: Okay, this chapter's where we get into the color of the crystal thing. It also explains the prophecy and where Heather went to. If you have any questions, ask in a review or a PM.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own TDI, The Legend of Spyro: DotD, or all that other crap I don't. I do own banana cream pie pudding though. It tastes good.

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Ch 4: The Prophecy of Avalar

"For thousands of years, the dragon elders awaited the rise of the Dark Master, Gaul." Malefor explained. Geoff was confused.

"Wait, _awaited_? Why would they want that?" he asked.

"Because of the Prophecy of Avalar. For years, a legend, clearly dictating the rise of a powerful dark dragon, was passed from elder to elder. But the prophecy also spoke of eight dragons that would be born once the Dark Master started his onslaught. Each dragon would be born with power over one of the Eight Great Elements. They were to be trained in the Dragon Arts to take down Gaul's army." Malefor continued.

"Eight…Great Elements?" Bridgette questioned.

"Fire, Ice, Electricity, Earth, Poison, Fear, Wind, and Shadow. Those particular dragons happen to be the ones sitting right in front of you." Amrok interjected with a grin.

"But there's only seven of you here." Trent pointed out. Malefor nodded solemnly.

"The Poison dragon, Sylvia, soon got sick of the training. She didn't want to have to fight in any war." he said.

"She was kind of a brat." Cynder told them.

"She ran from the Temple of the Elders and somewhere along the way, Gaul found her and swayed her to his side. That's probably where this Heather girl is." Terrador explained.

"Okay, but that still doesn't answer why we're here." Cody said.

"The Prophecy of Avalar also pointed out that we wouldn't be able to destroy Gaul and his army alone. It told of eight human teenagers who would be summoned to Avalar using magic crystals carved into dragon shapes. You guys." Malefor said. Each of the teens pulled out their dragon crystals at this point.

"The selected teens would fight alongside the dragons, stopping Gaul's army and bringing up the legendary Age of Peace." Ember said.

"But, wait a second! How are you so sure that we're the selected teens in this prophecy?" Gwen asked.

"The Prophecy of Avalar mentions names. Courtney of Fire, Bridgette of Ice, Cody of Electricity, Trent of Earth, Heather of Poison, Gwen of Fear, Geoff of Wind, and Duncan of Shadow." Volteer said.

"You can't argue with that." Shira said.

"So, whaddaya say? Wanna help take down a legendary evil dragon? Actually, you can't really say no. It's kinda your destiny." Amrok said, grinning hopefully.

"When you put it that way, do we really have a choice?" Duncan asked.

"Nope, not really." Malefor said.

"I guess since we're stuck here, we might as well. Seeing as it's our destiny." Trent said.

"If it involves taking down Heather, I'm game." Gwen said.

"I don't have anything better to do here. Why not?" Cody said.

"Taking down evil army actually sounds kinda cool! I'm in!" Geoff said enthusiastically.

"Well, if we're suck here, I guess we have to." Courtney said.

"Yeah! It's better than wandering around here lost!" Bridgette said.

"Then, it's settled! If we move out now, we can make it to Warfang before nightfall!" Volteer said.

"Warfang?" Cody asked his dragon.

"A city built by the cheetahs in that area. They know of the prophecy as well and would do anything to aid in our quest to take down Gaul." the electricity dragon explained.

"Then, I guess we're heading to Warfang!" Duncan said.

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**AN**: Okay, guys! The problem has been established! Will our heroes be able to stop Gaul? I don't really know yet! I put a poll on my profile about which dragons in this story are your favorite! Check it out if you want! R&R!!!


	5. Road to Warfang

**AN**: I'm back!!! I realize I was gone for a while! Soooo, as my apologies, s'mores-flavored cookies for all!!! Just for you! 

**Disclaimer**: I think we've all established that I own nothing but my Elvis teddy bear.

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Ch 5: Road to Warfang

The dragons led their teenaged companions to a large prism-shaped block of stone. On the rock was a carved paw print that took up the surface on the boulder. Terrador put his paw on the carved surface and began mumbling something that sounding like prayers.

"…Ancestors from before us, give us passage¾do not reject us…" the earth dragon muttered. The carving on the rock glowed a light purple color before the stone moved to the side on its own, revealing a tunnel lit by a couple torches.

"If we follow this path, we should end up at Warfang in about half an hour." Shira said. Cody gulped.

"Um, is this the _only_ way to Warfang?" he asked nervously.

"It is if we want to make it to Warfang before nightfall." Cynder said.

"Don't worry, Cody. This tunnel is protected by the dragon ancestors. There's no way possible for any Grumlins to get inside." Volteer said reassuringly.

"We're wasting daylight by just standing here talking. We need to keep going." Ember said. Malefor looked at her.

"After you, then." he said, grinning cockily. Ember scoffed and walked ahead of him, but not before tripping him with her tail. Malefor grunted as he hit the ground. Looking up he growled slightly as Ember walked away.

"Dude, you okay?" Amrok asked as the navy dragon picked himself out of the dirt.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he replied, wiping off some dust. The group of 14 entered the tunnel. After they did, the stone that Terrador had moved shifted back to it's original position, closing them inside with a deep rumble. Cody yelped and grabbed hold of the nearest person, which just happened to be Geoff.

"Dude, chill out. It was just the boulder. It always does that, Y'know to prevent any other entry. It's sorta like a security system." Amrok said to the shaking teen. Cody slowly nodded and released his grip on Geoff.

"R-right. Sorry about that, Geoff." Cody said. The party boy shrugged it off.

"No problem, man." he said, continuing to walk down the long tunnel. Volteer walked up to Cody.

"Quite jumpy, aren't you?" the lightning dragon said smiling. Cody rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, yeah. A little. It's just…all this stuff is just, just so different, it's kinda freaks me out a little." he said. Volteer nodded.

"It's to be expected. There are many things in this realm that are much different than yours. It might take some getting used to." the dragon said. Cody nodded.

"Right. Now, about Warfang. You said it was built…by cheetahs?" Cody asked as the two continued walking down the tunnel.

"That's right. Humanoid cheetahs, of course, but cheetahs all the same. There are many humanoid animal clans scattered throughout Avalar, like the wolf clan, the fox clan, and the bear clan." Volteer explained. Cody nodded slowly, as if he was finally starting to understand the concept.

"So, the cheetahs live in Warfang?" Cody asked, making sure he was understanding this correctly.

"Well, not all of them. There are multiple cities that the different clans have created and made their own. Warfang just happens to be the first cheetah clan city we've planned on our trip. We might come across another one later in our travels, though. I realize this is pretty confusing." Volteer said. Cody laughed a little.

"Yeah, a little. But, don't worry. I'll probably understand it soon!" Cody said with that gap-toothed grin of his.

"Hey!" The dragon and master were pulled out of their conversation when Malefor called to them.

"If you two are done rambling, we're here!" the shadow dragon said, motioning to the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Already?" Bridgette asked in disbelief.

"We told you guys it was a shortcut." Cynder said.

"Really short." Gwen commented.

"Well, don't just stand there, guys! Warfang awaits!" Geoff said with a grin on his face. Malefor nonchalantly strolled up to Ember.

"Race ya." he said with a grin.

"You're on." Ember said competitively.

--

**AN**: Yes, I know it was short. That's what's known as a filler chapter. Next chapter I'm really looking forward to the next chapter cause that's when the story really gets started! Plus, there will be a cameo by one of the Spyro characters next chapter! Those who guess right and tell me in a review get honorable mention next chapter!


	6. The City of Cheetahs

**AN**: I'm back and 'DotD' is off hold! Whoo-hoo! Party at Geoff's house! This chapter introduces one of those new characters I was talking about! And for that trivia I had last chapter which, unfortunately, only two people guessed correctly (Congrats citgirl and JurroRath, here's your honorable mention, as promised!), the answer is…Hunter of Avalar. It's weird; I thought more people would get that when they saw the word 'cheetah'.

For those unfamiliar with the character Hunter of Avalar, I will give some basic stuff about him. Although in the original Spyro series Hunter was the laid-back, kinda goofy cheetah that got some laughs out of everyone (and my favorite character!), in The Legend of Spyro series, Hunter has become a more serious and calm character. He still sports his trademark bow and arrow (he wouldn't be Hunter without them!), but also has a strange fascination with dragons. That's about it! On with the story!

**Disclaimer**: Come on, guys! Stop making me say I'm too poor to own anything! …Fine, I'll do it! I don't own anything except my OCs! Are you happy?!

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Ch 6: The City of Cheetahs

The group approached a tall, brick wall with a closed iron gate protecting the city inside. Two cheetahs, both humanoid as Volteer had said, approached the group.

"Halt. State your purpose." the first one spoke. Unusually enough, he had a light blue shade of fur along with dark drown spots. His brown eyes were soft, yet stern. He wore a light brown cloak over some light armor. Just as Shira was about to answer, the second cheetah spoke.

"Hold on, Meadow. These dragons…they're the ones from the prophecy!" he said. He had golden fur with light brown spots, along with green eyes. Like Meadow, he wore a cloak over some armor, although his cloak was red lined with gold. Strapped to his back were a bow and some arrows. Meadow turned to the other cheetah.

"Are you sure, Hunter?" Meadow asked. The cheetah now known as Hunter nodded slightly.

"Yes, Meadow. I've studied the prophecy long enough to know the dragons and their masters. These are them." Hunter said. Meadow glanced back to the group before nodding.

"Alright, then." Meadow said, opening the gate to the city. The group entered and stood in awe. Before them stood a large city with towering buildings. Along the pathways, colorful flowers were planted. Duncan whistled.

"Sweet." he said grinning. Hunter approached them.

"Hello, my name is Hunter." the gold cheetah said respectfully.

"Hello, Hunter. We're-" Trent started, but Hunter interrupted.

"I know very well who you all are. I've studied the Prophecy of Avalar since I was young, and I've long awaited your arrival in Warfang. I give you my humblest welcome to Warfang." Hunter said bowing slightly.

"Hey, thanks, dude!" Geoff said before turning to his friends with a grin.

"Check it out, guys! We're famous!" he said happily.

"Come. I will show you to my home. We can talk more of your quest there." Hunter said. Leading the gang through the streets of Warfang, Hunter finally stopped at a smallish house made of brick.

"'Tis not much, but it is just as good as any other." Hunter said as he let them inside. The inside was nothing much; some furniture and small tapestries, along with a small cooking area in the back and two bedrooms, one serving as the guest room, but nothing too big.

"Um, hey. Anyone else hear that?" Gwen asked. Somewhere in the back, there were sounds of angry growls and slashes.

"Yeah. What is that?" Amrok asked. Hunter readied his bow and arrow as he walked into the kitchen and started toward the backdoor. After looking through the window, however, he sighed, lowering them. The dragons and their masters followed Hunter as he walked out the backdoor, confused by his actions. Once outside they saw a small training field-like area with some small benches for rest sitting along the sides of the training area and slashed training dummies made of cloth and hay littered about. Hunter had walked up to a figure with a sword angrily slashing at one of the dummies. Upon closer inspection, one could see it was a young humanoid wolf with brown fur and sapphire eyes.

"Xed, stop." Hunter said in a calm voice. The wolf lowered its sword, breathing heavily, and glared at Hunter.

"…No. I can't. I need to keep fighting." it said in a male voice, panting. Cody looked at his dragon in confusion.

"Hey, Volteer. I thought you said that Warfang was home to only humanoid cheetahs." the brunet said. Volteer nodded slowly.

"And it is. I don't know why that wolf is here." the electric dragon murmured.

"Xed, you can't fight in your condition. You need to wait until your leg has healed." Hunter continued. Xed shook his head vigorously.

"No! My leg is fine! I can fight just fine!" the wolf shouted. However, his statement was contradicted when he winced and fell to the ground, holding his right ankle in pain. It had been wrapped in a bloody bandage. Hunter crossed his arms sternly.

"You are _not_ fine. Your ankle has been broken in multiple places and it _needs_ to have time to heal." the cheetah said. Xed looked up in shame.

"But, Hunter…" he tried to reason, but Hunter shook his head.

"No, Xed. You need to rest. Now, come on. Back inside." Hunter said, helping up the wolf. Xed winced when pressure was put onto his leg, but nonetheless limped back inside.

"What was that about?" Bridgette asked once Xed had left. Hunter sighed.

"Please, ignore him. He has been in much pain lately. Physically, emotionally, and mentally." he said sadly.

"But why is he here? Warfang is a city of cheetahs. Why is a wolf here?" Volteer asked, voicing his and Cody's question. Hunter was quiet for a moment, before nodding.

"You should know. Please, take a seat." the golden cheetah said. The group sat on the benches and on the ground. Hunter gave a small sad sighed before talking.

"Xed came from the wolf city of Moonclaw, not far from here. He arrived just a few days ago." the cheetah explained.

"Okay, but why did he come here?" Courtney asked curiously. Hunter looked down with sorrow in his eyes.

"Moonclaw and everyone in it were destroyed, just two days before Xed's arrival. While on lookout, Meadow and I found him limping outside Warfang's gates, sobbing in pain and sorrow." the cheetah said gravely.

"That's terrible!" Amrok said. Hunter nodded.

"We let him into the city, and he told us how the city had been destroyed and how he had been the only one to survive. However, he had not come out scot-free. Xed's right ankle had literally been crushed. The bones were shattered and they had ripped though his tissue, making his leg a broken, bloody mess. And that's not all that happened. His mind had been so fractured by the destruction of his friends and family that almost every night, he'll wake up screaming after reliving his city's death in a nightmare." he explained.

"What destroyed Moonclaw?" Malefor questioned, rage building inside at the thought of this happening. Hunter shook his head.

"We aren't sure. The remains of the city are there, so we know it was destroyed. But we couldn't find any clues to who did it. When we tried questioning Xed, the poor boy only broke down in mental anguish." he said. Terrador shook his head.

"That poor kid." he muttered before turning to the group of teenagers.

"This is why we need your help to take down Gaul. If we don't, more cities will be destroyed and more people will have to be put through what Xed has seen." the earth dragon said. Hunter nodded.

"That's right. Gaul is truly mighty and will stop at nothing to take over Avalar, even if it means destroying millions of lives." he said, standing up.

"Now, come. We must prepare you for your quest." the cheetah said. The group followed Hunter back into his house, but then there was the sound of rock crumbling and screams.

"What was that?!" Cynder asked, ready to attack. Meadow entered Hunter's home urgently.

"Hunter! We're needed at the front lines!" the blue cheetah said.

"Why?! What is happening?!" Hunter asked.

"The Chimera is attacking!" Meadow said with sternness evident in his eyes. There was a gasp from the guest room and Xed looked out in shock.

"W-what was that?!" the brown wolf asked, his voice shaky as his eyes started watering.

"The Chimera. It's here." Meadow repeated. Xed's hands started shaking before he fell to the ground.

"The-the Chim-Chimera…" the wolf mumbled in fear. Hunter walked up to Xed and put his hand on the wolf's shoulder.

"Xed, what's wrong?" Hunter asked as calmly as he could. Xed looked up with tears streaming down his face.

"The Chimera…killed my family. The Chimera destroyed Moonclaw."

--

**AN**: Hope that chapter was good enough for you guys. Next chapter, the dragons and their masters get to fight the Chimera! Speaking of which…

**Trivia Time!**

The Chimera is a mythical creature from Greek legends, but it has also made numerous appearances in a certain fantasy video game series. Which video game series was it? Honorable mention to whoever guesses right! R&R!!!


	7. The Attack of the Chimera

**AN**: …Hey, guys! It's been a while! …Please don't hurt me! Chapter 7 and the first big fight scene! Now, as for the trivia…I got a couple guesses, but only one guessed correctly (Congrats ashefurby1313!). The series I had in mind was…Final Fantasy. The Chimera has appeared as a minor enemy in every FF since FF1, to FF Tactics, to FF12. The Chimera I will be using is the FF10 (also known as the Protochimera in FFX-2) version. On with the story!

**Disclaimer**: I have absolutely nothing except a major video game addiction. So no suing or I'll get Phoenix Wright as my defense attorney. TAKE THAT!

--

Ch 7: The Attack of the Chimera

"Hey, hold on! What is the Chimera?!" Trent asked over the chaos happing outside and Xed's shuddering sobs. Meadow gripped his sword tightly, turning to the boy.

"The Chimera is a monster of pain and destruction. Its sole purpose is to kill and leave a trail of ruin wherever it goes." the light-blue cheetah growled.

"Then, what are we waiting for?! We've gotta stop this thing!" Gwen said. Hunter looked up from the wolf and nodded.

"Right." the humanoid cheetah said, standing up from Xed.

"Meadow and I will lead the army from the front lines. However, if the Chimera managed to get past us, you will need to protect the city at all costs." Hunter explained. Cynder nodded.

"Right." she said.

"You got it, dude!" Amrok agreed. Hunter gave a firm nod and cast a glance towards Xed before he and Meadow went off to fight. Cody also looked at the wolf boy.

"Uh, what do we do about him?" the young man asked, pointing at Xed. Malefor shook his head.

"Just leave 'im there. We've got more important matters to deal with." the shadow dragon said before running out into the city. The others followed suit. Cody just shrugged his shoulders before following the group. But what they saw was a nightmare. Buildings were destroyed, fires were raging through the city, and some people even lay wounded in the streets.

"…Oh, my God…" Courtney whispered quietly in horror.

"Hold on! The only way that this much destruction could have already happened would be if-" Terrador was interrupted by a loud, demonic roar. Everyone turned their heads upward.

"If the Chimera was already inside the city!" Cynder finished. It was true. Atop an already slightly destroyed building was the monster. It had three heads: a bull, a lion, and an eagle. Its arms were large and muscular, and it had four razor sharp claws on each hand. For feet, it had bull hooves and a as a tail, a long, yellow, fanged serpent. The eagle head gave a loud screech before the beast jumped down from on top of the building and landed right in front of the group. The dragons assumed a battle position.

"Hope you dudes have some sort of fighting experience!" Amrok said, wings spread out. "You're gonna need it!"

"And if we don't?" Bridgette asked, slightly scared of the answer.

"Then you're screwed." Malefor replied bluntly. The Chimera brought itself down onto all fours and its serpent tail pointed itself at the group. The snake hissed in anger before firing a bolt of lightning from its mouth.

"Hit the deck!" Geoff shouted, dropping to the ground quickly. The others followed suit. The lion head growled in annoyance as the Chimera's claws dug into the ground. A moment later, the beast had pounced forward with its claws outstretched, ready to dig into their flesh. The kid shouted as they jumped out of the way, narrowly escaping death. Duncan pulled himself to his knees, having fallen when he avoided the Chimera's claws.

_How are a bunch of kids supposed to take down a monster like this?!_, he thought angrily. He looked around quickly, trying to find some way to fight the Chimera, and his eyes stopped when they noticed light reflected off of a piece of metal. Pulling it towards him, Duncan identified it as a sword. He also noticed other various weapons lying by. Duncan guessed they were they were remains of a blacksmithing or weapons shop.

_Well, I'm more accustomed to fighting with switchblades…_, he thought, pulling himself off the ground and getting into fighting position with the blade in his hands. Glancing at the Chimera, he growled and tightened his grip on the sword's handle. _…But it'll have to do!_

"Guys!" he called out to the other campers. They all turned their attention to the punk, who motioned to the other weapons that he had found by the sword. "Weapons!"

The other teens immediately got what Duncan was trying to say, and the all scrambled over to where he was standing, dodging attacks from the angry Chimera. After some quick rummaging through the pile, all seven had a weapon on them: Duncan with his sword; Courtney with a strong, plain black chain whip; Cody with a long, dark grey lance with a retractable tip; Gwen with a set of sharpened blood red daggers; Trent with a large, light brown tomahawk; Geoff with a quiver of plain wooden arrows, along with a (also wooden) bow; and Bridgette with a white, light blue, and light green staff. The dragons then joined their masters.

"Now the odds are looking a bit more in our favor!" Ember said. The group was about to charge the Chimera, but it interrupted them with a loud roar of pain from the bull head. They all looked around the Chimera to see Xed with his now-bloodied sword in one hand, and the Chimera's sliced off serpent tail in the other. Blood splattered onto the ground as the yellow snake squirmed in the humanoid wolf's grip, not quite dead yet.

"This is for all the people you killed, and all the lives you destroyed. As the last standing warrior of Moonclaw, I will make _sure_ that you fall today and destroy no longer." he growled, rage burning in his blue eyes. The Chimera's bulled head roared again, but this time in anger. It completely ignored the campers and their dragons, now focusing all its attention on Xed. It charged the wolf, but Xed tossed the now dead snake tail away and gripped his sword with both hands. Just as the Chimera's claws were about to sink into Xed, the young wolf brought his sword up, the sharpened blade swiping the beast's torso. The lion hand cried out in pain before one of the Chimera's hands batted Xed away. The wolf boy went flying into a partially destroyed wall and his body slumped on the ground.

"Xed!" Shira called out to the wolf, hoping to get him to stir, but she got no response. Malefor's violet eyes narrowed on the Chimera, gritting his teeth.

"You're gonna pay for that!" the shadow dragon snarled before running forward, with Duncan and the other campers and dragons following, save for Trent, Bridgette, and Shira.

"Bridgette, we need to see if Xed's okay! We can't just leave him there!" Shira told the girl, obviously distressed at the thought that Xed might be hurt or worse. The blonde girl nodded.

"Right!" she said, running towards the fallen humanoid wolf with Shira following. Trent was left by himself with his tomahawk.

"Trent! What's the hold up?!" Terrador called back to him. Trent looked at him, his tomahawk not leaving the ground.

"I can't even lift this thing!" he cried out, demonstrating by attempting to lift the battle axe, but to no avail.

"Focus!" Terrador told him, avoiding a swipe from the Chimera. Trent gave him an odd look.

"Focus?! What're you talking about?!" the boy asked, genuinely confused. Terrador flapped his wings a few times, lifting himself into the air.

"Just do it!" the dragon commanded before flying off into battle. Trent directed his attention back to the tomahawk, which still lay on the ground.

_Focus? On what?! Just…lifting it?_, he asked himself. He shrugged after a moment's thought. _…It's worth a shot._

With that thought, Trent bent down and firmly gripped the tomahawk with both hands. He closed his eyes and tried to focus, shutting out the noise of the battle happening around him. He imagined himself just lifting the axe off of the ground and holding it in his hands. And then…he felt the weight of the tomahawk _lightening_. Trent's eyes shot open to find himself holding the tomahawk with no problems at all.

_What the…? How'd I do that?!_, he thought in confusion.

"Hey, Elvis!" Trent looked over to the battle to see Duncan glaring at him.

"You mind actually getting over here and _helping_?!" the punk growled, slashing at the Chimera. Trent nodded, hefting the tomahawk onto his shoulder with his newfound strength.

Meanwhile, Bridgette and Shira were trying to wake Xed, but to no avail. No matter how much the called to him or shook him, the wolf wouldn't stir. Alongside that, with each passing moment, Xed's breathing was growing shallower and sharper, as if it hurt him to breathe. They had also found blood trickling out of the side of Xed's mouth. Bridgette was starting to worry so much to the point of panic.

"Come on; wake up!" she shouted, grabbing Xed's shoulder and shaking him sharply, but the young wolf continued to lay up against the side off the building limply.

"It's no use. He won't get up. Judging by his condition, the force probably snapped one of his ribs and pierced his lung." Shira said with a tone of sorrow. Bridgette bit her lip, trying to hold back a cry.

_No…he can't be dying…he just can't…_, she thought, closing her eyes as a tear rolled down her face. Her hand, which was still on Xed's shoulder, began to glow a light blue, dotted with green. Shira gasped, completely shocked at the sight. What surprised the dragon even more was the fact that Xed's breathing pattern began to stabilize.

"Bridgette!" Shira called out, causing the girl to open her eyes. The blonde surfer girl gasped as she saw her glowing hand and immediately pulled it away from Xed. As she did, the glowing died down.

"What…what was that?" Bridgette asked her dragon, who seemed just as confused as her, seeing as Shira shook her head.

"I'm not sure, but look! Xed's breathing regularly! I think…I think _you_ did that, Bridgette!" Shira told her. Bridgette looked at her hand which had been glowing in shock and awe.

"…_I_ did that…?" she murmured to herself.

Back in the battle, the Chimera's movements were slowing down as it bled from multiple wounds. It's eagle head managed a weak screech of anger as it swatted at a flying Amrok.

"Yo, dudes! I think…we're actually _beating_ it!" Geoff called out, reaching into his quiver for another arrow, only to find he was out.

_Uh-oh…that can't be good!_, he thought. Amrok noticed that his master was defenseless and swooped down, landing in front off the blond party dude.

"It's okay, man! Just call 'em back!" the wind dragon told him. Geoff looked at him in confusion, tilting his head to one side slightly.

"'Call 'em back'? How?" he asked.

"Just focus on the arrows comin' back to ya, and you'll see!" Amrok said with a grin before resuming flight.

…_Focus on the arrows coming back, huh? Alright, I'll try it!_, Geoff thought, closing his eyes and holding out his hand. He thought of the arrows and how he wanted them to back in his hand. Then, he could hear the wind blowing in his ears and suddenly felt something in his grip. His eyes opening, he realized the arrows were in his hand. Geoff grinned.

"Sweet!" he called out and put the arrows back in his quiver, holding on to one to fire. Cody stared at the party boy in awe. Volteer landed next to the shocked teen, having just landed a blow on the Chimera.

"Something wrong, Cody?" the dragon asked.

"How…how did Geoff _do_ that?!" Cody asked. Volteer looked at him oddly.

"Do what?" the lightning dragon asked.

"W-what he just did! He held his hand out and all the arrows he fired just came…_flying_ back to him!" the brunet shouted, waving his hands around for emphasis. Volteer laughed slightly.

"Cody, he was just using his element to his favor." the dragon explained. Cody paused.

"His…element?" the tech nerd asked.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten the prophecy already, Cody! Geoff and Amrok wield the power of wind. Geoff was using the wind to summon the arrows back to him." Volteer explained.

"Oh, right! …Wait. Does that mean that I can use the power of electricity to help _me_ do stuff like that?!" Cody asked excitedly.

"It _is_ your element. All you need to do is _focus_." Volteer instructed.

"Uh…on what exactly?" Cody asked. Volteer looked at the lance Cody held in his hand.

"Throw your weapon at the Chimera." the electric dragon commanded lightly. Cody gave the lance a questioning glance, before shrugging slightly and tossing the metal rod at the beast. The Chimera, however, noticed the weapon flying toward it and narrowly dodged. Cody gulped.

"What happens if I miss?" he asked. Volteer smiled.

"Don't worry, Cody. With your lack of experience with a weapon, I had expected that you would've missed." he said. Cody almost took that as an insult, but realized that Volteer was right and that he had no weaponry experience whatsoever, not counting all the times he wielded a weapon in his various video games.

"Now, close your eyes and focus on your lance coming back to your hand. The power of electricity will magnetically attract the metal lance to your hand." Volteer told him. Cody nodded, closing his eyes and holding out his hand. He then felt some close to an electric shock run through him, the only difference being this jolt of electricity didn't hurt. It actually felt…pretty good. Then, almost immediately, he felt cool metal that felt similar his lance on his hand. His eyes shot open and he grinned, realizing it _was_ his lance!

"Hey, I did it!" Cody shouted and Volteer smiled.

"I told you that you could." the dragon said before dashing off into battle. Cody looked at his lance, and with a newfound determination, ran off into battle.

Courtney growled in frustration as the Chimera waved off her whip as if it was nothing, even though the monster was weakened. Ember noticed her anger.

"Courtney! Take that anger and turn it into power!" the fire dragon told her. Courtney looked at her dragon in confusion.

"What are you talking about?!" she shouted, feeling even angrier at those confusing words.

"Just focus your anger into your whip and you'll see!" Ember told her. Courtney gave an irritated sigh, but complied none the less.

_I don't see what good this will do me. I mean, anger_ _won't change the amount of power in-_, Courtney was snapped out her thoughts when her chain whip suddenly burst into flames. She almost dropped it out of shock, but then realized that the flames didn't hurt her at all. They didn't seem to affect the whip, either.

"Good! _Now_ try using the whip!" she heard Ember call out to her. Courtney glared at the Chimera and cracked the whip on its arm. It made the lion head give a sharp cry of pain as the flames started to singe its fur.

"Now that's more like it!" Courtney said to herself.

Cynder landed next to Malefor, who was lying on the ground, panting heavily. He looked over at her, nodding his head in her direction weakly.

"Hey." he breathed.

"You okay, Shadow?" Cynder asked, using Malefor's nickname she had started using back from their days at the training temple. The navy dragon pulled himself to his feet before nodding again, although this time it was more firm.

"Yeah. We've almost got this thing down; we just need to give it that one last push over the edge." Malefor said. The two dragon paused before looking at each other, grinning.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Cynder asked. Malefor nodded.

"If what you're thinking is the ShadowFear combo, then yeah. I'm thinking what you're thinking." he said.

"Let's do it." Cynder said before running up to Gwen.

"Gwen! I know what we need to do to beat this thing, but it involves you!" she told the goth. Gwen nodded.

"Alright. That being…?" she asked.

"I need you to focus the power of fear and confusion into your daggers and then hit the Chimera with one of them!" Cynder explained. Gwen stopped.

"What?!" she asked.

"Just try!" Cynder commanded. Gwen took in a deep breath before closing her eyes.

_Alright…focus the power of fear and confusion into your daggers. Completely ignore the fact that you have no idea how to do that…_, Gwen thought to herself. She tried imagining how it felt when she was scared or confused, and then forcing that power into her weapons.

"Okay! Now hit the Chimera!" Cynder's voice made her open her eyes to see that the daggers in her hands were glowing a deep, blood red. She looked at the weakened beast, who was barely fighting off the attacks directed at it.

"…Well, here goes nothing…" Gwen muttered to herself, running forward and slashing the Chimera's back with one of the glowing daggers. The bull head gave a howl of pain before the entire monster went into a confused frenzy. Malefor smirked at this before running to Duncan's side.

"Yeah?" the boy panted, trying to hold his sword steady in his shaking and sweaty hands.

"Duncan, I need you to end this battle with one last hit." Malefor told him in a serious tone.

"And just how do I do that?" Duncan asked, wiping some sweat off his brow.

"Summon the power of darkness, infuse it into your sword, and strike while the Chimera's confused." Malefor instructed with an edge of urgency. Duncan's frost blue eyes lock with Malefor's violet ones.

"I don't know how to do that!" he shouted. Malefor glared at him.

"You _can_ do it, though. The power of shadow is inside you; all you need to do is summon it." Malefor insisted.

"But _how_?!" Duncan shouted angrily. Malefor growled.

"Just try it, okay?!" the shadow dragon roared. Duncan grit his teeth in anger, but said nothing. He closed his eyes, trying to somehow call the power of darkness to his blade.

_Alright, darkness…you're supposed to be here somewhere, so come on out… I need your help to kill this thing…_, Duncan thought. And for a split second…nothing happened. But then, he could of sworn he saw something move behind his eyelids. He opened his eyes, but for some reason, darkness still clouded his vision. Then he felt an odd chill sweep across him, and before Duncan knew what he was doing, he ran forward, the only thing he could see being darkness. He felt his arms move to bring up his blade and his feet stop moving. Finally, a loud roaring screech of pain echoed in his ears and the darkness obscuring his vision evaporated.

He found himself standing before the Chimera with his blade sticking out of the beast's chest. Duncan slowly withdrew his sword and noticed that odd, black tendrils of shadow were entering the freshly-made wound. He took a few steps back and the Chimera collapsed in front of him, completely lifeless. The other campers and dragons ran up to congratulate him, except for Malefor, who stayed back.

_I can't help but feel as if I just did something very wrong…_

--

"Hmm…so the ones from the prophecy are starting to unlock their inner elements… No matter. I will destroy them, either way."

"But Master, the girl has powers not told in the prophecy!"

"That may be true, but she won't be a problem. And the boy…he could serve as a valuable asset to us. After all…the power of the shadows is a powerful magic, not to played with."

--

"Thank you for taking down the Chimera. We, and the rest of Warfang, are forever in your debt." Hunter said, bowing to the group. They were just about to head off to their next destination after killing the Chimera.

"Hey, it was no problem! Really!" Amrok said with a grin.

"Are you sure that you don't need any help restoring the city?" Cody asked, his lance strapped to his back. As a thank-you gift, the people of Warfang insisted that they keep the weapons. Meadow shook his head.

"No, we shall fix the damage ourselves. You, on the other hand, have a quest to continue." the light blue cheetah replied.

"What about Xed? He'll be okay, right?" Shira asked.

"Do not worry about him; he'll be fine. He just requires a little more rest. He'll be up and about in no time." Hunter said.

"Alright, then! We're good to go! Where to next?" Trent asked. Volteer turned towards the distance.

"Do you see those mountains?" he asked, referring to the two mountain ranges not too far in the distance. Trent nodded.

"Normally, we would walk through the valley in between the two mountain ranges, but, due to a recent, unexpected landslide, we will be going over the mountains, instead of trying to climb through the rocks and dirt. There is a path that leads straight over the mountain, so we should have no trouble getting over." the electric dragon explained.

"Well, then let's get going!" Geoff said enthusiastically.

--

**AN**: I understand that this chapter is _way_ overdue, but I've been really busy this summer. They gave me _summer homework_! But, just so you know, we are getting to the really good parts, now!

**Trivia Time!** (I think I'll do one of these every chapter now…)

The next chapter is gonna feature one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters, just cuz I feel like this story should in corporate multiple video game themes. Whoever can guess who gets honorable mention! Now since the last one was pretty hard, I'm gonna give you guys hints this time.

Hint 1: He was the main character in his Final Fantasy.

Hint 2: He was in an _even_ numbered Final Fantasy.

Hint 3: Final Fantasy is not the only video game series he has appeared in.

R&R!!!


	8. Into Dante's Freezer

**AN**: Yo, dudes! Chapter 8 is up! I kinda figured that no one would get the trivia right, even with the hints. I was just curious to see if there was anybody else that like TDI _and_ FF. As for the correct answer…you'll see when you read the chapter!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own TDI or the Final Fantasy character I'm borrowing.

--

Ch 8: Into Dante's Freezer

"How much farther 'til we reach the peak? We've been climbing this mountain for over an hour!"

The complaint had come from Courtney as she paused for breath, leaning up against a nearby rock. Terrador helped himself up onto a ledge before turning back to her.

"Not far. Look. We've almost reached the snowline." the earth dragon said. All the teens turned there heads towards the top of the mountain. Sure enough, the top was covered in snow. The group continued walking.

"Snowline? It doesn't feel like we're _that_ high up…" Cody muttered.

"Not to worry. The snowline isn't natural. It was a spell cast to protect the war base." Volteer said.

"War base?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, didn't we tell you? Dante's Freezer. It was used in a long-since forgotten war between the Warrior Grumlins and dragons. You see, back then, the Grumlins weren't under Gaul's control. Instead, they had free will over their actions. Of course, they were evil actions, fueled by evil intentions, but they were their own actions nonetheless.

"The Warrior Grumlins were lead by Dante and this war base was his base of operations, hence the name 'Dante's Freezer'. To keep his base well-protected, he built it in the mountains and cast some powerful Blizzard magic to create a never-ending blizzard on this mountain's peak. However, after Dante's defeat, the spell's power diminished to a light snowfall every few days." Volteer explained as they crossed the snowline.

"So, dude, the war base is old, right? No chance of any Warrior Grumlins leaping out at us?" Geoff asked.

"It's okay, Geoff. The only Warrior Gremlins you'll find in there are frozen solid. No way any of _them_ could attack us." Ember said as they approached a large stone structure covered in snow and ice. A large wall made of thick rock surrounded it and inside you could see cells lining the stone hallways that were dimly lit with a few small torches.

"Well, here we are." Cynder said. The teens looked at each other after eyeing the war base warily.

"Are you sure we should go in there?" Bridgette asked, not realizing that she was holding onto Geoff's arm protectively.

"Don't worry. All we have to do is go in, go through, come out the other side, and we'll be on our way!" Amrok said encouragingly. After a few moment, they entered, though still seeming wary.

"This place was also used for prisoners of war." Malefor remarked, noticing that some of the campers were staring at the cells oddly. Cody looked in one of the cells and noticed a man shackled to a wall. Or at least…what used to be a man. All that was left was a skeleton. The brunet gulped and backed away before bumping into something cold and hard. He turned expecting to see the wall, but yelped in fear at what he did see.

A tall man with sickly green skin and pointed ears that was dressed in heavy red and black armor stood there, literally frozen. He wore an expression of anger with his mouth gaping open and his orange, pupil-less eyes narrowed as his arms were raised above him, holding a metal axe, looking as if he was about to strike down on Cody. Icicles hung down from his armor. Cody, who had stumbled to the ground in fear, held his chest as he caught his breath.

"Relax, Cody. He's dead." Duncan said with a smirk. Cody gave him a weak glare.

"That doesn't really make me feel any better, you know!" the tech geek said, trembling slightly.

"He was most likely caught in the final battle of the war. The dragons used Dante's Blizzard spell against him and his army, freezing most of them solid. It's said that Dante's frozen body is still somewhere in this base." Volteer commented. Cody pulled himself to his feet.

"Oh, that's a great story! Can we go now?!" the young boy asked in fear, still staring at the frozen Warrior Grumlin as if to make sure it didn't jump him.

"No, we can't. We _have_ to get through here. There's no way around it." Malefor said sternly.

"_Absolutely_ no way around it?" Cody asked, taking his eyes off the frozen man. Malefor nodded, annoyance gleaming in his violet eyes. Cody whimpered slightly, but sighed.

"Fine." he said.

"Hey, don't worry, dude! I mean, it's not like any of these guys are coming back to life, right?" Geoff said with a grin. Cody looked at the blond party boy and grinned back.

"Yeah, I guess you're right!" the brunet said. He and the group continued walking down the stone hallway but stopped when the heard a cracking noise.

"…Guys? What was that?" Shira asked, fear creeping into her voice. The looked over their shoulders to see the frozen warrior…becoming un-frozen. The man grunted as he lowered his arms, the icicles breaking over his armor and shattering on the ground. His neck cracked slightly as he turned his head towards the group, his breath forming small clouds in the cold air. His orange eyes narrowed on them before letting out a loud, inhuman roar of anger.

"That…_can't_ be good." Trent said, getting out his tomahawk. The others followed suit, also pulling out their various weapons. The Warrior Grumlin charged forward, axe raised and ready to strike. In turn, Duncan charged forward with his sword ready.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Malefor shouted at him, but Duncan didn't respond. The warrior swung his axe down, but the punk slipped out of the way. The axe had gotten imbedded in the floor, and, while the Grumlin was struggling to get his weapon out of the ground, Duncan swiped at the only vulnerable spot that wasn't clad in armor: the neck. The Warrior Grumlin's head rolled off of it's shoulders, but before either one hit the floor, they both dissipated into dust, just as the Bug Grumlins that Malefor had saved Duncan from had. The teenager scoffed.

"Piece of cake." Duncan replied, slinging his sword onto his shoulder. Courtney ran up to him angrily.

"What was that?! You could've gotten yourself killed!" she shouted at him, but Duncan merely smirked.

"Aw, you were worried about me, Princess?" he asked, walking off. Courtney stared at him in shock with her mouth open wide.

"I…I was not! Why would I ever be worried about a _pig_ like you?!" the preppy girl yelled at him, turning a nice shade of bright red.

"Alright, you two, enough! We have to keep moving! Who knows who many of those things could be here? We need to keep quiet so we don't attract them!" Ember whispered harshly.

"Too late." Malefor commented, looking behind them. Everybody looked to see what he was talking about, only to see about twenty more of them with assorted weapons down the hall, with the number increasing each minute. A few Warrior Grumlins closed the front gate to the base, making turning back impossible.

"There's no way we could take all of them. Not with their numbers increasing like that." Trent said, watching more warriors flood the hallway.

"As much as I like a challenge, Trent's right. We need to get out of here." Malefor said. Cody stayed to the back of the group, almost to the point of cowering.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" the brunet asked before running off down the hall. The other took one more look at the large army of Warrior Grumlins before following him. The group (minus Cody, who had ran off ahead) ran down the winding halls, however, not being able to shake the warrior following them. Turning another hallway, they heard someone call out to them.

"Guys! Psst! In here!" Looking towards the whispering voice the saw the teen that had ran off ahead, motioning for them to come into a hallway that was closed behind a large, wooden door.

"Cody!" Gwen shouted. The boy motioned for them to hurry up and they all filed into the hallway, with Cody closing the door behind them. Terrador motioned for them to stay quiet, and they could hear the Grumlins' clanking armor and heavy breathing as they ran past. Then, the sound faded into the distance, making everything eerily quiet.

"Is the coast clear?" Bridgette asked in a low whisper. Trent nodded.

"Yeah, it sounds like it. Come on, let's go." the black-haired teen said, but stopped when he heard a barely audible, weak-sounding moan. Cody pressed himself up against the wall, shaking in fear.

"What was that?!" he whispered hastily.

"Another Grumlin?" Courtney asked, reaching for her whip.

"It didn't…_sound_ like one…" Shira said.

"No, Shira's right. Grumlins don't make sounds like that, not even zombie Grumlins." Cynder said

"Meaning…?" Duncan asked.

"Meaning there's something else in this place besides us and those Warrior Grumlins. Let's go check it out." Malefor said walking down the hallway, towards the sound. The others began to follow but stopped at an outburst from Cody.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Guys, come on! Do we really _have_ to walk towards the creepy moaning sound?!" the tech geek asked, still pressed up against the wall.

"C'mon, Cody! What's the worst it could be?" Amrok asked as he continued to wall down the hall with the rest of the group. Cody gulped, shakily following them.

"…Don't make me answer that…" he muttered tensely. When the group came to the end of the hall, all they found were more cells.

"Aw, bummer. It's just a bunch of more skeletons. I was hoping for another fight." Duncan said, crossing his arms across his crest. Geoff nodded, but then noticed something inside one of the cells. A non-skeletal figure, laying up against the wall.

"Hey! Hey, dudes! There…there's someone in this one!" the blond shouted. Amrok looked in as well.

"Yeah! …Yeah, Geoff's right!" the wind dragon said, nodding.

"What?!" Courtney exclaimed. The others looked in the cell and, sure enough, there _was_ someone other than a skeleton in it. Gwen grabbed the keys off a hook on the wall and quickly unlocked the cell door, opening it with a loud _SCREEECH!_ Ember lit up a small flame to get a better look at them.

The figure was a male humanoid lion that didn't seem too older than any of the teens. He was probably about 17 or 18 at most His fur was brown, with his mane being a deep, almost black, shade of brown. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing, so he was apparently unconscious. The lion's hands were shackled above his head, giving him the appearance of a war prisoner. One of his most noticeable features was the scar on his face that ran from above his right eyebrow, across the bridge of his nose, to underneath his left eye.

The brown lion wore a black, long-sleeved leather jacket with white fur lining the collar, with a plain white T-shirt underneath. He also wore black pants with multiple belts and black combat boots. On his hands were black, leather gloves. Glinting in the flame made by Ember was a silver lion/cross pendant hanging form a chain around his neck.

"Hey! Wake up!" Bridgette said, shaking the humanoid by his shoulder. He mumbled a little and his eyes opened slightly, revealing them to be a stormy blue.

"Ngh…who…who're…" he tried to asked, but Shira quieted him.

"Shhh…it's okay. We're here to help. Now, can you tell us you name?" she asked.

"Sq-" he almost replied, but stopped himself, looking away. The others looked at each other in confusion, but Shira stayed focused on the lion in front of her.

"Hmmm?" the ice dragon asked. The lion looked at her, his eyes now cold and hardened, all hints of weakness gone.

"Leon. My name is Leon."

--

**AN**: Yes, Squall Leonhart AKA Leon was the one I was thinking of. Here's how the hints apply.

Hint 1: He was the main character in his Final Fantasy: He was the main character in his Final Fantasy.

Hint 2: He was in an _even_ numbered Final Fantasy: Squall appeared in Final Fantasy VIII (8).

Hint 3: Final Fantasy is not the only video game series he has appeared in: Squall also appeared in the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise. Everybody who's played Kingdom Hearts would recognize him as "Leon", the calm and collected swordsman from Traverse Town/Hollow Bastion.

Now…

**Trivia Time!**

Dante's Freezer has actually appeared in a "The Legend of Spyro" game, but which one was it?

R&R!!!


	9. Leon, the Gunblade Warrior

AN**: Uh, hey there, reader peoples! Sorry for the delay on this chapter but…writer's block, y'know? …Great, now I'm turning into Raijin. Final Fantasy humor. You guys probably didn't get that joke, but a video game nerd like me couldn't resist making it! …I'll just move onto the honorable mention now. The answer was… A New Beginning. Dante's Freezer just happens to be my favorite level in the entire series! I really don't know why though. Now, since so many people got the answer right, I'm just gonna make a list. Congrats:**

**Derangedpixie**

**Stolen Earth**

**slpytlak**

**Gwenrox720**

…**Huh. Not as long a list as I thought… Anyway! Enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own TDI, LoS: DotD, or Squall Leonhart and any other Final Fantasy VIII elements I may add into this chapter. I really wish that I owned Squall Leonhart, though…that'd be awesome…

--

Ch 9: Leon, the Gunblade Warrior

"Alright, Leon. My name is Shira." Shira said. Leon's cold frost blue eyes watched her every move. Finally, he spoke.

"From the prophecy." The sentence came out as a statement, not a question. Trent glanced down at the other dragons.

"Does _everybody_ in Avalar know about the prophecy?" he whispered to them, his tone sounding slightly exasperated, as if he were annoyed by the fact that everybody immediately knew who they were. Malefor shrugged slightly.

"Yeah, pretty much." he whispered back. Amrok grinned.

"Hey, it's sorta convenient, actually! We don't have to waste time with intros!" he pointed out.

"That's right. Now, Leon, I want to ask you a very important question. How did you get here? What happened?" Shira asked, a slight tone of urgency slipping into her voice. Leon sighed, closing his eyes.

"Gaul's forces, they…they attacked Garden. We tried to stop them…we tried to fight back, but…there were too many of them. They overpowered us and…" Leon's voice trailed off, as if the next part of his story was too painful to recall.

"Leon? I understand this probably hurts to talk about, but we _need_ to know. What happened?" Shira prompted. Leon took in a deep breath and his eyes opened again.

"Garden is gone. Gaul's army destroyed it." he stated, his eyes cold and hardened as if he was trying to mask the pain he truly felt.

"Uh…Volteer? Quick question. What's…'Garden'?" Cody asked his dragon quietly. Volteer glanced up at the brunet.

"Garden is the name of a large training school used for teaching humanoids of all species in the way of combat. Though some humanoid cities prefer to teach their warriors themselves, Garden offers lessons on multiple fighting styles and how to use different weapons, along with other benefits. Or…if Leon's story is true, it…_used_ to." Volteer explained in a hushed tone. Cody glanced back towards Leon, thinking about Volteer's words.

_A school of trained warriors…? And Gaul's army managed to…__destroy__ it? He's really that strong?!_, the tech geek thought with a mixture of shock and fear.

"Gaul…destroyed Garden? And…what about the students and instructors?" Shira asked. Leon shook his head slightly.

"As far as I know, I'm the only one from Garden still alive." he told them. Everyone stood silent, that one statement making their blood run cold. Gaul was getting stronger than they had realized.

"…I see. And why are you here, Leon?" Shira questioned after a moment's pause.

"I tried to get away…to get help, but there were too many. They knocked me out and brought me here… I've been their prisoner for five days now." he explained, lowering his gaze to the floor.

"Wait, _five days_?! Then how are you still _alive_?!" Malefor demanded.

"They've…been trying to keep me alive, for some reason. But the conditions were still horrible…" Leon muttered, hanging his head slightly.

"So…what you're saying is…they've been _torturing_ you, but at the same time…keeping you alive?" Ember asked.

"…That makes no sense! Why would the Grumlins capture and torture Leon if they didn't want him dead?" Cody asked no on in particular.

"Because that's what Gaul _wanted_ them to do. For whatever reason, Gaul wanted Leon captured alive. The torture was most likely just to break his spirit. If he comes from Garden, he's gotta have a lot of fight in him. The reason doesn't matter, though. We're getting him out of here." Terrador said. With little effort, the earth dragon broke the shackles on Leon's wrists, causing the lion's hands to limply fall into his lap. Slowly, he brought himself into an upright position, leaning on the wall for support.

"Hey, take it easy, man. Don't strain yourself." Geoff said, putting a hand on Leon's shoulder. The lion, in turn, shrugged him off.

"I'm fine…but the Grumlins took my weapon. And my training in hand-to-hand combat isn't that extensive…" Leon said, bringing a hand to his forehead. Duncan crossed his arms.

"So basically…what you're saying is that, without this weapon of yours, you're completely useless?" Duncan asked. Courtney elbowed him in the side.

"Duncan! You don't have to say it like that!" she whispered to him harshly.

"What?! That's what he's saying!" Duncan said in his defense.

"Then…we find your weapon. The Grumlins probably still have it, so it's most likely still in this base!" Bridgette said. Leon slowly nodded.

"…Right." he muttered.

"Do you have any idea where it would be?" Cynder asked.

"Most likely the armory with the rest of their weapons, but…I have no idea where that is." Leon stated. Geoff grinned.

"Then, we better start lookin' then!" he said. Leon pushed off of the wall he was leaning on and nodded firmly. The group started to wander through the halls, managing to keep out of sight thanks to Malefor's power over the shadows. Then, just as they were about to turn a corner, Leon stopped them silently, holding his arm out.

"Hey, man, what's-" Geoff was interrupted when Leon quieted him, holding one finger up to him mouth. Everyone glanced around the corner and immediately saw why. Coming down the hall were two Warrior Grumlins. However, they were both unarmed and missing a few pieces of armor. Duncan snorted as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, come on. We could take these guys! They don't even have any weapons!" he whispered to Leon angrily. Leon turned his head slightly to look at Duncan out of the corner of his eye.

"That may be true, but we don't need to bring any attention to us. That would make finding the armory and getting out of here even harder." Leon stated in a low tone. Despite the calmness in Leon's voice, Duncan could see the fire burning in Leon's blue eyes. He grit his teeth angrily, knowing that Leon was right.

"Tch. Fine." he muttered angrily. Leon turned back to the two Grumlins watching as they entered a door on the side of the hallway. A few moments later, they came back out, except this time they had weapons and the pieces of armor they had been missing were on their bodies. The group watched as the two walked away.

"…How much do you guys wanna bet that's the armory?" Gwen asked once the two Warrior Grumlins were out of earshot.

"Well, it's our best bet. Let's go." Malefor said. The group slowly crept around the corner, making sure that no Grumlins were around before entering the room. Inside, the walls were lined with armor and assorted weapons, most of them colored black, red, or a mixture of the two. However, towards the back of the room, a weapon lying forgotten in the corner stood out among the rest.

It was a long, silver sword with a black leather hilt. The sword was…rather odd, though. The hilt itself was curved, and attached to it was a gun barrel and trigger. The blade jutted out of the gun barrel, and carved into the flat side of it was a lion. Dangling from the hilt by a chain was a silver lion head charm. Leon slowly approached the weapon and picked it up, his grayish-blue eyes scanning it.

"Okay, we found your weapon. Now can we get out of here before any-" Duncan's statement was cut off as the door to the armory squeaked, signaling it opening. Leon's eyes quickly left the blade and out of the corner of his eye, he could see a group of three Warrior Grumlins, though unlike the last two, they had weapons and one of them was large and bulky. The large Grumlin had a large mace, while the other two had battleaxes. However, some of their armor was slightly damaged.

"Heh, finally. A little more entertainment." Duncan said with a smirk. However, before any of the teens could draw their weapons, Leon charged forward, his sword at the ready. He lashed out at one of the Grumlins that wielded a battleaxe, he sword effectively piercing the Grumlin's throat. As he pulled out his sword, it slumped to the ground before turning to dust.

The other Grumlin with a battleaxe raised its weapon, ready to strike down of the young lion. Leon quickly brought up his sword to block, and as the blades collided, Leon pushed the Grumlin back. Taking advantage of the brief moment that the Grumlin had lowered its guard as it stumbled back, Leon sliced at the Warrior Grumlin's middle, where the armor was damage. The blade went straight through the Grumlin and both halves of it felt to the ground before disappearing in a puff of dust.

With two enemies down, Leon directed his attention to the last, and largest Grumlin. It was about 5 inches taller than him and much more well built than he was. He growled slightly as his eyes narrowed. The large Warrior Grumlin hefted its mace above its head, but just as the spiked ball could crash into Leon, the humanoid jumped out of the way. Landing behind the large Grumlin, Leon readied his sword for the final strike, putting a single finger on the trigger of his sword. Then, he struck. Leon's blade hit the large Grumlin's armor on the shoulder, an area where the armor _wasn't_ damaged. But with a press of the trigger, a minor explosion was triggered as a vibration ran up the blade and the sword cut through the Warrior Grumlin's armor all the same. As the last Grumlin was destroyed, Leon straightened and turned to the group.

"_Now_ we can get out of here." Leon said before turning towards the door. All of the teens stared at the young lion in shock. He was barely any older than them and yet he wielded his sword like it was an extension of his arm. It made them wonder just how long Leon had been a swordsman.

"…Whoa. Dude, what _is_ that thing?!" Geoff asked excitedly, finally breaking the silence that had started to settle, referring to the weapon that was in Leon's hand. Leon glanced back at him.

"It's called a Gunblade. The _Lionheart_." Leon stated before walking out of the room. Everybody followed after him quickly.

"So that's what a student of Garden is capable of…?" Cody muttered silently.

"Well, actually…I'd say that's _beyond_ what a Garden student is capable of." Volteer commented, having heard Cody. The brunet geek glanced down at the yellow dragon with wide eyes.

"_Beyond_?!" Cody repeated in disbelief as the two slowed their walking pace, the rest of the group quickly passing them. Volteer gave a quick nod.

"I'd say so. I've seen a few Garden students fight before, but Leon's skills surpass them by…quite a lot. He must have been a remarkable student…" the electric dragon said, trailing off slightly.

"Don't fall behind, you two. Pick up the pace so we don't get caught by any Grumlins." Bridgette told them, though it was said in a light, not commanding tone.

"Right!" Cody said, walking a bit faster to catch up with the rest of the group. After walking down the long corridor with no Grumlin attacks for a while longer, Leon started to get slightly edgy.

"They aren't attacking…_why_?" he muttered with his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right?" Trent said with a light shrug. Leon shook his head, a few dark brown bangs falling in front of his eyes.

"No. I've been here for _five days_, remember? Grumlins should be flooding these halls right about now… So _why aren't they_?!" he growled under his breath, almost acting as if he _wanted_ the Grumlins to come.

"Dude, relax! Why are you so intent on finding the Grumlins?!" Duncan asked, stopping and crossing his arms angrily. Truth be told, he didn't like Leon all that much, nor did he trust him. Leon glared at him.

"SeeDs are taught to be alert and keep their guard up, especially when in enemy territory. As a warrior from the prophecy, that's a lesson you will eventually learn. Now keep moving unless you want to get ambushed." Leon growled at the punk. Cody glanced down at Volteer quickly.

"SeeDs?" he asked.

"A student of Garden." Volteer stated. Cody nodded before looking back ahead, following Leon. Even though they hadn't known each other long, Cody trusted Leon. The lion seemed to have some leadership qualities and he was a skilled swordsman, even if he did come off as cold and slightly untrusting. After a moment of more walking, Leon froze.

"Hey, what's wro-" Gwen cut herself off at what she saw. Snow blew in from an opening at the end of the long hallway, creating a slight chill. Snow meant outside. Outside meant that…they were home free?

"Come on." Leon told them before rushing towards the opening. The group followed eager to finally be out of the frozen war base. However the opening only led out into a courtyard. Scattered around the ground in the snow were weapons and the remains of training dummies made of hay and dried grass.

"…A training yard…" Leon muttered bitterly. Terrador sighed a little.

"…I was almost hoping we were finally out of this pla-" the earth dragon was cut off as Grumlins started to flood the courtyard and the gates to the doors back into the war base were slammed shut behind them. Leon immediately drew his Gunblade.

"…I knew it…" he hissed under his breath, baring his canines slightly. Duncan smirked.

"What's wrong, Leon? I thought you were…tr-trained for…" he trailed off as a pounding headache started to form. Then, he started to feel lightheaded. Before he knew it, Duncan had passed out on the snow-covered ground. Courtney's eyes widened.

"_Duncan!_"

--

**AN**: Oooh…is that a little cliffhanger I see? Sorry, guys, but it's things like that that keep you guys wanting more…and it keeps your attention, which is what I want. So…any comments on Leon's character? Since you guys said you've never played Final Fantasy, I'd be happy to answer any questions for you! R&R!!!

**PS**: No trivia this time, guys. Sorry, I couldn't think of any questions that weren't Final Fantasy-related!


	10. The Dream

**AN**: Hey, guys… Sorry for keeping you waiting so long, but I'm in high school, and I haven't had the time to update! Now, for all of you people that were worrying about Duncan, relax! I couldn't have one of my main characters dying at the ninth chapter! That'd be so lame. Now, here's chapter 10!

**Disclaimer**: Nope; still don't own it. TDI, Leon, the gunblade, Diablos: none of it belongs to me.

--

Ch 10: The Dream

Darkness. That was all Duncan could see once he woke up. Pulling himself to his feet, he found it very obvious that he was no longer in Dante's Freezer. He looked deeply into the darkness, hoping to see something other than black.

"Guys?! Malefor?! …Hello?!" Duncan called out into the darkness, but he got no response. Glancing around warily, he crossed his arms.

"…Man, if that Leon guy did this, I'm so gonna kill him…" he growled to himself.

"Relax. The boy from Garden had nothing to do with your coming here, Duncan." a loud booming voice said, though it was clear that Duncan was the only one around. The punk's eyes darted back and forth wildly as he drew his sword.

"Who said that?! Show yourself!" Duncan called out defiantly. The voice responded with a low, deep chuckle that made Duncan's blood run cold. The voice didn't sound human. It sounded…_demonic_.

"Alright. If that is what you wish…" the demonic voice trailed off and the owner of the voice appeared before Duncan's eyes…and it was _far_ from human.

The figure was a large, yet slim demon-like creature. Its basic body structure was human, although with some differences. It was blood red and black, with two huge bat wings sticking out of its back. Whipping behind it was a long, thin devil tail, ending in a triangle. Sticking out of the top of its head were two black horns. Duncan gulped slightly, all feelings of confidence gone at the sight of the large bat demon. His grip on his sword loosened and it clattered as it felt to the ground.

"Who…who're you…?" Duncan asked barely above a whisper, fear coursing through his body. The demon grinned wickedly, showing off its white bat-like fangs.

"Diablos, demon of shadows and the true essence of darkness…at your service." the demon said, his yellow eyes glinting evilly. Duncan paused, letting these words sink in.

"…Wait. _You_ were the one who helped me defeat the Chimera…right?" he asked slowly. Diablos smirked.

"Hmmm…maybe you aren't as stupid as I thought…" he muttered. Duncan glared at the large demon.

"H-hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" he asked angrily, but one glance from Diablos quickly snuffed out the rage he felt and replaced it with fear. For some reason, the demon's eyes seemed to strike fear into Duncan's very core. Diablos's burning yellow eyes locked with Duncan's blue ones before the demon laughed loudly. Normally, Duncan would've questioned what was so funny, but Diablos's gaze made him stay frozen with fear.

"You're scared me, boy. Are you not?" the bat demon questioned. Duncan's eyes quickly glanced down to his feet. He couldn't reply. He wasn't about to admit he was actually scared, but he couldn't _lie_ to Diablos either. After a moment of silence, a wide smirk spread across Diablos's face.

"Hmph. I knew it. You _are_ scared. It was a wise idea to bring you here then, Duncan." Diablos said. Duncan's gaze snapped up and he looked at Diablos with wide eyes.

"Wait. You brought me here? What for?" the punk asked, except this time there was no edge to his voice.

"If you are going to become a master of Shadow Magic, you need to learn to cast off your fears and embrace the true essence of darkness." Diablos explained. Duncan nodded slowly.

"…Alright. And just how am I supposed to do that?" he asked. Another wicked grin spread across Diablos's face.

"First, you prove your worth to me. To do that, don't die." the demon said. Duncan's brow furrowed in confusion.

"'Don't die'? What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. Diablos responded with a quick snap of his claws. The sound echoed slightly before yellow lights started to surround Duncan. He watched them carefully, quickly picking up his blade that he had dropped. The glowing yellow lights came in pairs, and it didn't take long for him to realize that they were _eyes_. The eyes belonged to little insect-like imp creatures that appeared to made of pure darkness. Their antennae twitched curiously as they began to hobble towards Duncan like little zombies.

"Diablos, what are these things?!" he called out, but when he turned towards the bat demon, he noted that he was alone, save for the little shadow creatures. Diablos had abandoned him. Duncan grit his teeth in frustration.

"Oh, this is just _great_…" he growled under his breath angrily. One of the shadows leapt at him but Duncan brought up his sword, easily slicing it in half.

"Huh…so they're not all that hard to kill…" Duncan muttered, watching as the shadow dissolved into black smoke. He grinned slightly. "…Then this'll be easy!"

Duncan continued to hack and slash through the small creatures. As he had said before, it only took one swipe of his blade to kill one of them, making the battle extremely easy for Duncan. Cutting the last shadow in half, he brought his sword to rest upon his shoulder.

"Is that all you got, Diablos?!" Duncan called out into the darkness, all traces of fear in his body gone. It was as if fighting the shadow creatures had increased his bravery tenfold.

"Heh. Congratulations, young warrior. You've made it past the preliminaries." Diablos's voice echoed through the darkness, though he didn't show himself. Duncan frowned.

"'Preliminaries'? What's that supposed to mean?!" he asked angrily. The ground rumbled and Duncan whipped around, holding his sword ready. However his eyes widened at the beast he was apparently supposed to fight next.

Standing before Duncan was a large, bulky purple monster that was roughly 2-and-a-half times his height. It stood on all fours, each one of it's "paws" armed with three sharp, black claws. It had three horns: two curved white ones that were attached to its lower jaw, and one black one that stuck out of the beast's forehead like a unicorn's horn. Its small, yellow eyes narrowed on Duncan and it let out a loud, inhuman roar of anger. Duncan stared at it a while longer before glaring back at it, tightening his grip on his sword.

"Alright, Barney. Let's dance." he said. The large monster charged forward, but Duncan dodged out of the way of its paws. It roared again, but this time, silver lightning bolts shot out of the sky. Duncan winced, squeezing his eyes shut as he prepared for the shock, but instead, he felt nothing. Cracking one of his eyes a slit, he noticed the lightning bolt stopped in mid-air. Upon closer inspection, he found that the bolt had seemed to have hit something, like a force field.

"Hey…what the…?" Duncan murmured before reaching up towards the silver bolt. Before his fingers could touch it, they met an invisible barrier.

"Huh?" he questioned, running his hand along the unseen surface. Slowly, realization dawned on him. It _was_ a force field! As the lightning bolt disappeared, so did the barrier. Duncan gazed at the hand that had touched the force field.

…_Did I do that?_, he thought curiously. However, he was broken out of his thoughts as the large purple monster roared again. Duncan snapped his gaze over at the angry creature.

"Oh, right. I gotta take care of _you_ first before I can get out of here." He sighed irritably before bringing his sword in front of him. "…Well, might as well get this over with quick."

Duncan rushed forward with his sword and the huge creature stomped its feet, the ground rumbling slightly as it tried to crush Duncan. The teen managed to dash underneath the monster, dodging its heavy paws as he slashed at the beast's legs. However, his attacks had no effect, shown by the fact the creature continued to attempt to kill Duncan under its feet. Avoiding one of the creature's hind legs, he started to realize just how dangerous his position was.

_Under here, it's only a matter of time before I get crushed like a bug. I gotta get to higher ground. Now, if only there __was__ any "higher ground" around here…_, he thought. Running out from underneath the creature, Duncan noticed its legs weren't all that long. They were short enough for him to climb up onto the monster's back. He smirked.

_Bingo!_, he thought, strapping his sword onto his back. Rushing up to the creature, Duncan latched on to one its hind legs. The beast voiced its irritation by roaring loudly and stomping its feet in an attempt to get him off. He only tightened his grip on it. Slowly shimmying up its leg, Duncan eventually managed to pull himself up onto the creature's back. Drawing his sword again, he slashed at the monster, but his attack had little effect, only creating tiny scratches on the beast's back that didn't even break the skin.

_Dang it! This thing's got some rough skin…_, Duncan thought irritably. _Maybe if I climbed up to the head…_

Careful not to fall off, he stumbled up the creature's back, its constant moving making the task difficult. Once upon its head, Duncan attempted to drive his sword through the monster's skull, but the tip of his sword couldn't even pierce its purple skin. Duncan growled.

"Oh, come on…What's it take to beat this thing?" he asked himself in frustration. In that one moment Duncan was distracted, the large beast shook its head angrily in an attempt to knock Duncan off of its head. He was caught off guard and he faltered, almost falling backwards off of the creature. In a desperate attempt to keep his balance, Duncan's arm shot out and he grabbed one of the monster's white, curved horns.

Gulping slightly, he pulled himself back up onto the creature. As he did, he stumbled forward slightly, his sword accidentally striking the monster's straight, black horn on its forehead. The beast cried out in pain and Duncan froze.

_What the…? That…hurt it?_, Duncan thought in confusion before grinning. _Looks like Tall, Purple, and Ugly has itself a weakness!_

Duncan got into a battle position before attacking the creature's black horn in a flurry of blade strikes, the monster roaring in pain the entire time. It desperately tried to shake Duncan off, but every time he would almost fall off, he would grab onto the beast's white horns to pull himself back up onto its head. Finally, the creature couldn't take anymore of Duncan's attack and it collapsed, defeated. Duncan, seeing that his opponent was finally finished, jumped off of the monster's back and onto the ground and smirked.

"Well done, young warrior. You managed to fight the imps of darkness and overcome them." Diablos said, reappearing with a fanged grin. Duncan crossed his arms.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. Imp? That giant purple thing was an _imp_?!" he asked in disbelief.

"Compared to other beings of shadows you will fight, yes. That was an imp." the bat demon replied, speaking about the huge monster as if it were an insignificant insect.

"…There's more things I gotta fight?" Duncan asked, about to redraw his sword for battle. Diablos smirked.

"Your courage against the darkness is rising already…good. And you have already started to embrace the shadow magic lying dormant with in you." he said. Duncan blinked slowly.

"…Shadow magic? You mean the force field?" he asked, thinking back to when the invisible shield had stopped the silver lightning bolt from hitting him.

"Correct. That was a Dark Shield. A weak defensive shadow spell, but one of the basics that is essential for you to learn." Diablos explained.

"So I _did_ do that!" Duncan said.

"Exactly. Now this is all the time for training we have…for now. I _will_ bring you back here. You still have much to learn about the power of dark magic." Diablos said, and with a wave of his hand, the darkness surrounding them started to engulf everything and Diablos faded away.

"Wha-_wait_! I'm not finished! I still have more things I need to ask you!" Duncan shouted, trying to fight off the shadows that were trying to drag him under into the pool of darkness below.

"All in due time. Now…do not shun the darkness. _Embrace it._" Diablos's voice echoed in Duncan's head, and even though he didn't want to be thrust back into the outside world, he obeyed, allowing the shadows to overtake him.

And then everything faded into darkness.

--

**AN**: So there you go! The plot thickens even more! Soooo…yeah! On to…

**Trivia Time! **(It's back, guys!)

This chapter contain multiple references to a certain video game series that was made by the same man who made the Final Fantasy series! What video game is it? Extra props to whoever can point out all of the references (Hint: There are three of them.)

R&R!!!


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